Sheepish

I think I may have finished this work. It’s been quite absorbing, and fun, and is a true continuation of my Anthropomorphie series.

Tackling oils has been a difficult thing for me. I was nervous, and excited in the beginning, but anxious about all the hazards, physical clean-up, and the medium showing all my inexperience. I decided the only way to make them less scary was to pretend they were acrylics and use them in the same way. This didn’t really work. The two mediums are so vastly different in effect and handling it was always going to be a disaster I suppose. Watching the disaster in progress was confusing and frustrating, and when I finally did get to handling them as if they were acrylics, the result was flat and didn’t glow like oils should.

Much reading, looking, forehead slapping, thinking…..

I think this is the first painting I’ve done where I’m using oils as they should be used. I feel really good about this one and enjoyed the process, feeling so confident that I even used some of my old tricks. A toothbrush came in handy more than once to good effect.

With a few shows coming up in the next few months I have to move straight on to the next one, but feel better about how it will happen. I’m also thinking of pulling a few recent ones out and adding more layers to them to see if I can pull them back from the brink.